Friday

Have you forgotten
your New Year Resolutions already, and do the summer holidays seem like years
away?

Sugar is receiving a lot of press at the moment.

(If
you have access to, or, look for a fascinating talk
By Dr Robert Lustig a leading
endocrinologist and author of “Fat Chance”.
Also see Jeremy Paxman on the BBC news talking to a Coca Cola representative.)

Sugar causes all sorts of damage not least pushing up
cholesterol levels, cardiovascular damage and diabetes. The glycaemic
indexorload is a measure of how fast carbohydrates and foods breakdown
into sugar in the bloodstream. Insulin moves the sugar to the liver and then
turns it into fat to be stored round all the places we don’t want it!

Becoming familiar with the glycaemic index of foods
will help your choices.

White baguettes
are almost the same as pure glucose!

Protein foods such
as beans, chicken and fish are low in carbohydrate so can slow down the
sugar effect of a meal when included.

Leaving the skins
on potatoes and choosing wholemeal versions of foods lowers the score.

Freshly made
natural foods are always best as ready meals and processed snacks are full
of hidden salt, fat and sugar.

Fructose is a form
of sugar to be especially wary of. When found naturally in whole fruit the
fibre slows down the release of fructose , but in the form of added
fructose or fruit juice it can be very damaging. Some
cardiologists want fructose regulated in the same way as alcohol! Both
need to be processed by your liver.

See our GI Index below which
will help you make informed choices when choosing what foods to eat.

The GI (Glycaemic Index) of
common foods

Many factors can alter the G.I
of foods. Overcooking will increase the score as the carbohydrates are more
refined, and therefore absorbed more quickly. Watermelon appears high but as
there is very little available carbohydrates in a portion its overall Glycemic
Load is low.